Jan. 10--OKALOOSA ISLAND -- Greg Donovan knew just when and where he wanted to let everybody know about his plans to get air service between Canada and the Emerald Coast.

Donovan, Okaloosa County's airports director, kicked off an initiative to land WestJet with an announcement at Friday's eighth annual Senior Snowbird Expo.

H e a d q u a r t e r e d i n Calgary, Alberta, WestJet would make direct flights from Toronto to Northwest Florida Regional Airport. Normally, setting up U.S. Customs inspections would be a major hurdle, but Donovan said that would be handled on the Canadian end of the proposed route.

"We've identified this airline as a perfect fit," Donovan said. "We have lots of people from Canada driving down here now. With this service they could fly down here, then go back to check on their house or for something like a medical situation, or they could have friends come visit them.

"But we've got no historical data to present to WestJet to show them how much customer demand there might be," he added. "That's why we're kicking off this campaign. If all goes well, we could be announcing new service with them at this event next year."

C a n a d i a n C a r o l y n Hall, who said she was retired from American Airlines, seemed more than interested.